Althorp Grange

On this page

• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

At our last assessment we rated responsive as require improvement. At this assessment the rating changed to good. The service demonstrated a commitment to involving people in their care and treatment decisions. Staff worked to understand individual preferences and, where possible, adapted care plans to reflect these. During periods of transition, efforts were made to maintain communication and provide reassurance, helping people feel informed about changes. While staffing challenges occasionally affected timeliness, the provider took steps to prioritise immediate needs and mitigate impact on outcomes. Limited learning from complaints demonstrated a gap in governance and continuous improvement.

This service scored 68 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service understood the diverse health and care needs of most people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity.

The provider developed a Person-Centred Transfer Plan dated 1 July 2025. The plan set out steps and safeguards to ensure each person transferred was clinically safe. Guiding principles included: Patient centred and collaborative, Safety first, Family and carer involvements, Whole system agreement, Continuity of care and Planned transitions.

Staff training was provided to equip teams to understand cultural beliefs around mental health, stigma and recognising the impact of discrimination on mental health. Staff had received for example Gender and sexual diversity training at a 99% compliance rate.

Multidisciplinary staff supported and promoted people’s links with families and carers, where appropriate. This was evident from speaking with people, carers and recorded in care plans.

Leaders worked with local health providers and external stakeholders through monthly multi-agency partnership meetings. External stakeholders were working closely with the hospital particularly during this period of change as the hospital transitioned to a nursing home. Staff were in regular contact with people home area teams to ensure continuity of care once discharged from the service.

The provider had systems for collecting feedback and involving people in care decisions. Although complaints were investigated, there was limited evidence to demonstrate how learning from these was used to drive service improvement.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) received 22 complaints in the last 12 months about Broomhill hospital. Some of these were discussed at provider engagement meetings, with follow up action taken. Between August 2024 to August 2025, the provider received 10 complaints. Lamport ward accounted for the highest number (4), followed by Kelmarsh and Holdenby wards with one each, and one from the administration team. Three complaints were subsequently withdrawn. Complaint investigation records demonstrated limited learning, with the provider failing to consistently identify recurring themes resulting in mixed opportunities to improve service quality.

People knew how to complain or raise concerns, and the provider’s complaints records confirmed that people did so. However, it was unclear whether feedback from complaints was shared with staff or whether lessons were learned and improvements made.

The provider compliments records showed between 3 January 2025 to 30 June 2025 a total of 24 compliments were received from people, carers and families and visiting clinicians and students. A compliments tracker was held in the hospital reception area and reviewed quarterly by managers.

There were also opportunities for people to speak up through anonymised routes.

The provider introduced a service user champion role to strengthen the voice of people and ensure that all service development and quality improvement was co-produced in partnership with people. The service user champion attended governance meetings to provide feedback from a lived-experience perspective, ensuring that service user insights informed decision-making. The service users champion had spoken with CQC at a recent engagement meeting. They also led and supported community meetings on the ward, helping to promote engagement, shared decision-making, and the co-production of service initiatives.

The provider carried out a patient survey in June 2025 with 27 people surveyed and 19 responses (70% return rate). Overall, the response was positive with people reporting they felt safe, supported and respected by staff. Some areas for improvement included food variety, communication about care plans and involvement in decision making. An action plan was produced with action and timescales up to September 2025.

The service made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

The service made reasonable adjustments to support disabled people. For example, one person who used a wheelchair w able to move freely around the hospital, which had accessible facilities including lifts.

Staff made reasonable adjustments for most disabled people, addressing communication barriers and access to premises and outside areas. There was ample disabled parking available on the hospital site.

There was adequate medical cover day and night, a doctor could attend the ward quickly in an emergency and the hospital was within a reasonable travelling distance to the local acute hospital.

Staff ensured people had access to post-discharge care – for example, S117 aftercare, community mental health services and crisis services.

Staff were actively planning for people’s discharge, including good liaison with care managers, care coordinators, community mental health teams and other funders. People’s discharge plans and records showed they were actively involved in ward rounds focused on planning their discharge.

Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this.

Staff within the service promoted a culture in which the people using the service felt empowered to give their views. Leaders were visible and carried out daily walk-arounds on the wards and were accessible to people to provide reassurance of information.

The provider developed an ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’ strategy for 2025 to 2028 around their purpose, vision and commitment to being an outstanding care provider and the employer choice.

Leaders identified the Oliver McGowan mandatory training on learning disability and autism as an equality, diversity and inclusion strategic priority. The provider embedded this within their equality, diversity and inclusion objectives, demonstrating progress towards ensuring all staff were trained to support people with learning disabilities and autistic people effectively. Staff were trained in ‘Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Human Rights’ with a compliance rate of 95%.